Ulysses Perry
, , |death_date = February 14, 1874 |death_place = , San Joaquin |constituency = |party = Democratic-Republican |rhouse = |spouse = Catherine Perry |multiple_spouses = |children = Joseph John Isaiah Clair Gregory Alexander |residence = Getty House |alma mater = no |alma_mater = |profession = |religion = 1828 - 1845 |signature = |languages_spoken = |allegiance = |branch = |rank = |unit = }} Ulysses Perry (born Ulysses Alexander Perry; May 9, 1828–February 14, 1874) was the 3rd Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Sierra. His ministry and ultimately his death triggered the Sierran Civil War and represented the zenith of radical in Sierran history. Born to an Hoosier immigrant family from , the Perrys lived in the southern valley in a log cabin. Growing up, he became a local lawyer for local farmers and was instrumental towards the foundation of one of Sierra's most influential parties, the Democratic-Republican Party of Sierra. In 1838, Perry and his family were forced to leave after soldiers forced their removal, destroying their crops and property. In 1845, out of retaliation, Ulysses formed an underground militia with his father to fight against the Mexican forces around his home of . He was captured and was brutally abused, which after escaping, he was reported as becoming more brute and harsh with the oppressing forces as a direct result of the event. Never attending university, Ulysses was taught by instruction by his mother through the and classical literature. During his youth, he was forced to speak at church services, and was also knowledgeable in . He was particularly interested in translating books from Spanish to English, forming the private collection for the incoming Prime Ministers. After the war, Perry was instrumental in supporting the interests of the farmer and common man. He was a vocal and was supportive in forming the . He was elected as a local representative for the short-lived nation. It was not until the 1858 did Perry become a radical Republican, and developed a deep hatred of the newly appointed King Smith I. Vowing to reduce or even eliminate the powers of the monarchy, he was elected to the Parliament of Sierra with several other of his subordinates under the party name of the Democratic-Republican Party of Sierra in the first election in 1858. He and his fellow party men supported the ideals of , , and early forms of . He was nominated in 1862 for the Democratic-Republican ticket in the general election, but failed. He again accepted the nomination in 1866 but failed with a near margin. In 1870, Perry finally won the election for the position of the Prime Minister. His party won with a majority in the Parliament in both houses and insisted in abolishing the monarchy, but due to the political climate decided to wait until his last days in office to peruse such a option, which was foiled with his assassination. Although opposing the principles behind the Kingdom of Sierra (its monarchist nature in particular), Perry has been regarded as one of the "Founding Fathers of Sierra". Having attended the Constitutional Convention of 1858, Perry formed the republican faction at the committee and was responsible for incorporating many elements from the American constitution into Sierra's. While Perry was a radical in his time and played aggressively in politics, historians in modern contexts have deemed Perry played a "pivotal" role in Sierra's success. Perry's ideology and actions inadvertently bolstered general support for the monarchy, in part due to his indirect causation of the Sierran Civil War through his death, a war which defeated popular support for radical republicanism. Early life Ulysses was born on May 9, 1828 to Sebastian and Susan Perry in a remote location in the San Joaquin Valley. His family were illegally squatting the the Mexican province, yet upon the discovery by the Mexican government, agreed to stay if they converted to Roman Catholicism. Ulysses was taught in both Latin and Spanish at the local churches school and sought to become an ordained . He was fascinated by older literature and slowly lost his religious touch by the age of 16 when he had stolen books from a local abandoned white settlers home. Enjoying the writing of and the ideals presented in , Ulysses formally declared in his journal as a child that he had renounced his belief in Christianity and instead believed in a conception of God. It was at the age of 16 that his family was evicted from their home by the Mexican government. They were told to return to America but refused in doing so and instead ventured north to settle in the city of Sacramento. It was here Ulysses founded a local group that participated in raids targeting Mexican camps and caravans. The group gained the name of "Northern Gringos" after several Mexican papers began reporting them as so in the capital city of . Perry was a high-priority target among local politicians and he evaded capture twice. It was during the that Ulysses began taking into account in his personal memoirs of his group's actions. He declared ambitions for a Californian Republic, independent from both the and the Mexican Empire. Following the Republic's independence, Perry continued patrolling his home area with his militia. On a hot summer day in June 1848 that Perry recorded him and his group catching settlers from the South transporting illegal slaves into California. The situation divulged into a argument and finally a violent confrontation, ending with Ulysses killing all five of the armed slave owners. Ulysses gave safe passage for the slaves to Sacramento, yet was questioned by his followers for allowing "impurity" into the land. Ulysses was quoted saying to his men, "It is the duty for us to right the wrongs of our brothers- for their sin is ours to bare and we will not let men be shackled and then emancipate them only to be sent into the wilderness to die. I will not have it. " Gaining much of his wealth from attacking incoming slave traders and attacking caravans, he and his group established farms around the and settled down from their troublesome lives. It was suspected that during Ulysses' lifetime, he had killed up to 55 men. He established a local public school that he and his former group provided generous donations to upkeep. The school was regarded as the most prestigious education campus in the country, and would later take on the name of University of Sierra, Bernheim. It was during his life as a farmer that he met his wife Catherine Aston, a much like minded individual of Ulysses. She was a suspected and supporter of racial intermarriage. She was also a prominent speaker for . Early political career The political stability of the Californian Republic began to crumble and the nation created a constitutional committee. Perry was selected as a delegate and traveled to the committee to create a new constitution. Siding with the republican factions, he failed short of a completely republican nation as moderates favored compromise with the royalists. The Constitution of 1858 was declared with the formation of a monarchy and the California Republic was dissolved in favor of the Kingdom of Sierra. Smith Charles Miller, the president of the delegation, was chosen as the kingdom's first sovereign, a man whom Ulysses took deep hatred for. Attending the coronation at alone, Ulysses claims in his memoirs to "...witness the staining of our country..". Ulysses formed the Democratic-Republican Party a day after the coronation, and rallied support from the farmers of the , women who sought suffrage, and those who opposed a national bank. When Smith appointed a Governor in San Joaquin and other Central Valley provinces while serving as interim prime minister, Ulysses used this to ride into the election of 1870 as the Royalists and the King were outward opponents to . Prime Minister Elected in 1870, he assumed the popular vote of nearly 54.8% against the Royalist candidate Richard Trist, whom many of the Democratic-Republican painted as a 'dog with his tale between his legs' and that Ulysses was a commanding individual who was in the best interests of the people rather than the businessman or the crown. He gained the most support from the the densely populated rural areas of northern California. It was during the election that suspicions of his wife became publicized and the religious right used the couples non-religious standings as "Satanic". Ulysses swore in on a copy of a Bible, which did settle much of the accusation, but the general tone of the couple remained negative in the more religious areas of the nation. As prime minister, Ulysses restricted the power of the Royal Monetary Authority of Sierra, lowered , and promoted the adoption of the . He and Parliament passed legislation capping the power of big business in Sierra including a myriad of laws. In addition, a hallmark of Ulysses' tenure as prime minister was checking the power of the king. It was Ulysses' desire to abolish the monarchy altogether but deciding to reserve such a plan toward the end of his term, he attempted to restrict Smith's power by holding a parliamentary convention to review and revise sections of the Constitution pertaining to the monarchy. Perry returned to the nation's capital of that year around October, his party fared well with the midterm elections and processed a solid majority. He passed sweeping laws such as subsidizing many farming activities (with unprecedented support from his own rival, the King) and began major public works that assisted the growth of industry. His highly protective trade tariffs prevented cheap goods from flooding Sierran markets and allow for a local factory boom in San Francisco City and . He supported higher taxes on the wealthy, yet gave incentives to grow business in the western empire. In the early spring of 1874, he passed legislation that enforced secular standings within the county, penalizing any religious favoritism within the country and reaffirming the kingdom's . He and the Parliament Democratic-Republicans began drawing up plans to dismantle the Crown of Sierra; they wanted to usher in a , a goal that would be achieved through a constitutional convention. With such plans being drawn up against the very basis of the country, conservative sediment grew from generally negative to hostile. Death of Catherine Perry On July 2, 1872, his wife was found dead in middle of the night by a groundskeeper. It wasn't a week until Ulysses found out the incident while drafting a bill to mandate protectionist policies on imported goods from Mexico. He was distraught, and feel into a deep depression. He left the Parliamentary secession, which the Royalists rejected and demanded the secession continue; in deep anger with the already rowdy members ordered guards to escort them out and not allow them to reentry. Returning to his estate, he discovered that his wife's death was a conducted by an unknown suspect or suspects. Ulysses already began to draw connections to the religious right, the royalists and ultimately the King. While condolences were rampant from all sides, Ulysses proclaimed in his memoirs "...I will purge this world of the self-righteous fanatics, their King...and their parliamentary members. " Assassination On February 14, Ulysses returned to his estate to burn his home to the ground after claiming that he was being haunted by his wife's restless ghost who could not pass on to Heaven. The burning was conducted during an intense and requested that his armed guards leave him so he could walk the same route he walked with his wife along the San Joaquin when she was still alive. He said to the guards, "My greatest grief is the loss of my love of my life. I only hope that in the eternal dream that we may walk arm in arm along the like we did along the ..." and proceeded to walk alone into the dense fog. Several shots fired, causing the guards to rush to the Prime Minister's aid. It was nearly a mile away where the men found a trail of blood leading to the river. While the guards testimony reports that the markings indicated he was dragged, official reports claim it was suicide. His body was never found. It wasn't until 1998, that investigators returned to the case and proclaimed that it was indeed a assassination and that the body was most likely taken down river into the . Reports of Ulysses' death received grief and sorrow from his supporters and constituents. For moderates and Royalists, Ulysses' behavior and the belief that his death was suicide was startling. With his death, many Democratic-Republicans were deeply angered, especially more so when an official government commission stated that his death was due to suicide. Exploding into violent demonstrations and protests, the outrage derailed towards a full-blown civil war after Perry's friend, Isaiah Landon, called for open arms days after. The war would last four years, and throughout it, the war was called in part to seek vengeance for Perry. Ultimately, Perry's ideals for a republic would be crushed as Landon's actions and the onslaught of the war defused popular support for republicanism. Since his death, Perry has been in the center of national folklore and interest. His virulent opposition to the King and his troubled final years have spawned conspiracy theories and speculation of his life. There have been widespread reports and sightings of Perry's " " near the reported site of his death in Suisun Bay and at Parliament Building in Los Angeles. Positions Regarding the social norms at the time, Ulysses sought the total purity of the state and was quite militant in the Parliament on the subject. He introduced several bills that held quotas for immigration, demanding that European Americans and continental Europeans be given free land freely over their African or Mexican counterparts. Perry rejected slavery in the state and was quite harsh on the manner, he regarded it the thief of freedom and the theft of white jobs. He regarded the as a industrious race and supported their immigration to the coastal cities, just rejected their presence in the rural areas of Sierra. He also provided several grants to Chinese religious temples that wanted to be settled and many regarded his position on the East Asian immigrants as "respectable". Religious views Ulysses and his family were forced to convert to Roman Catholicism, which later in his life denounced and claimed that "...the ritualistic nature of the Mexican Church resembles that of a pagan, Indian or negro ceremony..." and provided that he never attended after the war. After reading works by , Perry became a , a view that was the subject of much controversy while he was prime minister. Quotes *"My greatest grief is the loss of my love of my life. I only hope that in the eternal dream that we may walk arm in arm along the like we did along the ..." - His last remarks to the guards, regarding the death of his wife early in his term as Prime Minister. *"The model for our party's foreign policy will to shake with the right, while holding a rock in the left. Never shall we yield to tyranny, nor allow them to brute the innocent." *"Let the Mexicans sprout their ideologies of tyranny, It will always be a enjoying thought to see the Mexican serpent hung from a tree..." *"America seeks to oppress the negro and thus dangers the purity of the Sierran soil, for they will flock in hordes and outnumber us. It must be principle to our policy to suppress negro immigration, but we must reject the policy of slavery for its injustice." Controversy Songs ;:"By and By, Arm In Arm Along The Banks of the San Joaquin" Cultural collection *'' '' (acquired 1868) *'' '' (acquired 1866) *'' '' (acquired 1871) *'' '' (acquired 1870) See also Category:Politicians of Sierra Category:Prime Ministers of Sierra Category:Sierrans